Means to protect vegetation from frost



G. E. ANDERSSON.

IVIEANS T0 PROTECT VEGETATION FROM FROST.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 14, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

@nl-nl u lol-Illin- G. E. ANDERSSON. MEANS T0 PROTECT VEGETATION FROMFROST.

APPLICATION FILED MAY I4, 1919.

IPatnd M1129, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

entran stares PATENT '@FFHCEO MEANS TO PROTECT VEGETATON FRUST.

maratea,

Specification of Letters Patent.

rammed naar. sa, mail,

Application filed May lil', 11919. Serial No. 297,153.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, GUs'rAr EDWIN AN- DERssoN, a subject of the King ofSweden, residing at Erikshll, near Dpsala, in Sweden, have inventedimproved Means to Protect Vegetation from Frost, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to improved means to protect the crop from beingdestroyed by night frost or similar climatic changes by removing thedestructive air or mixing it with air of other temperature, or with amixture of air and steam from a suitable generator.

One of the features of my invention includes the outlet from a fan orthe like which supplies compressed air to a distributing pipe which isrotatable or swingable around a vertical axis so as to distribute theair (which may be tempered in any suitable way) over the garden, field,valley, etc., which should be protected.

lf the air is to be mixed with steam, for

instance in order to-heat the air, the heating source may be mountedwithin` the steam boiler and' the steam -may be nsed to drive` the fan,for instance by means of a steam turbine, before it isr allowed toescape into the distributing pipe.

rlhe engine which drives the fan may be used for driving thedistributing pipe also by means ofwany suitable mechanism. A

suitable form of such mechanism is one of the objects of the invention.lf the heating source consists of a furnace, the flue from said furnacemay open into the distributing pipe so that the hot waste gases from thefurnace are mixed with the air, in order to raise the temperature of theair. The inlet to the fan may be so arranged with regard to theheatingfsource that the air -is tempered to a certain degree alreadybefore its entrance into the` fan, if preferred, i.

ln the drawing which shows an example `with the fan combined with aboiler in which a furnace is mounted,- Figure l is a side view, partlysectional, some parts broken away for lack of space.

Fig. 1X is a detail view of the'means for automatically changing thedirection of the movement. f

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section along the motor shaft (some partsomitted).

Figz is a horizontal section, partly along the link D (Fig. l), partlyalong the upper surface of the water in boiler K (Fig. l), some partsbeing omitted.

Fig. l is a. vertical section along shafts A and D (Fig. l)I on a largerscale.'

lfig. 5 is an end view of the coupling box R on a still larger scale.

Fig. 6 is a side view of a portion of the ring (lfigs. l and 3) withAits projections T, intended to show the opposite inclined faces of saidprojections.

rllhe fan lF which in the example, is shown driven by an electromotor Mpropels a Strong current of air through the outlet. Said outlet consistsof apipe P with vertical lower portion z' and laterally directed upperportion u which is adapted to rotate or oscillate around the verticalaxis of said vertical portion. Any suitable means may be used foreffecting such rotation or oscillation. rlhe preferred means shown onthe drawing is constructed as follows The shaft 1 of motor'M drives avertical shaft A by means of a worm 2 and worm 1 with two gears Cmounted loose on a common horizontal shaft D, the other end of whichhasfa fixed gear E in mesh with an annular gear G fixed coaxially on`the vertical portion of the distributing pipe P, which is rotatable inand supported by a bearing Q. Between the loose gears `a coupling box Rwith teeth 1' on both sides is mounted on the shaft D, for instance bykey and slot (liigs. l-5) and is ada ted to slide along, but not rotateon the sliaft so as to engage coupling members 0 on any of said gears Cwhereby the box is rotated by the gears C and in its turn rotates theshaft D in one direction or the other. The box lt is shifted froml onegear C to the other automatically by means of an angle lever S the oneend of which is adapted to engage inclined faces on two projections 'lfastened on the pipe l), one of said projections being disposed to turnthe lever in one direction, the other in the other direction, 'llheotherend of lever S is connected by a'link D to a lever V which engagesa circular groove g on the box llt. A spring tends to turn the-lever Wso as to throw the a the pipe P lpipe has 'made a full turn, one of itsprointermediate position shown on the drawing,

in which position it is disengaged from both gears C. llt will be seenthat the spring Z box R into engagement with one o f the gears C,whereby the shaft D is rotated, and thus is forced to rotate. Before thejections T reaches the lever S and shifts the position of the same sothat box R is disengaged from one gear G and forced to engage the othergear C, whereby the shaft D is turned the 'other way and the pipe Pcaused' to sto-p and rotate in the other direc` tion until the otherprojection T reaches the lever S and shifts aga-inst the position of thebox R. 4L l The projections or stops T-may be detachable, and adapted tobe fixed in different distances from each other so as to vary the sizeof the angle passed by the oscillating pipe P. P or this purpose theprojections T may be fixed by screws or the like on a ring or flange twhich is secured on pipe P, the ring having a series of holes 71, forthe screws.

Tf the apparatus is placed atl about the center of the surface to beprotected, the stops T should be taken away and the pipe 'P allowed torotate continuously in a single direction so as to s read the temperedair in all horizontal directions. l

The example shows a heat sourceH inthe form of a stove mounted within aboiler K., The products of combustion from the stove andthe steam fromthe boiler are led into the pipe P so "as to mingle with and heat theair coming from the fan P. The inlet f to the fan faces the boiler K, soas to cause the air to sweep around the hot boiler and thus be somewhattempered before it enters the fan.

lln some instances, the heating apparatus garages is dispensed with, andair of ordinary temperature is used as it is often sufficient to stirtheair by blowing strong currents of air through it so as to mingle theair of the ldwest most cold layers with air from the superposed lesscold layers.

Having thus described my invention, llv

v comprising a laterally directed pipe, a fan supplying air and alboiler supplying steam to said pipe and a stove mounted in said boilerand dischar 'ng the products of com bustion into said pipe, and meansfor swinging or oscillating the pipe around a Vertical axis so as tospread the air.

3. Means to protect vegetation from frost. comprising a laterallydirected pipe, means Vfor feeding air into said pipe, means vfor heatingthe air, and means for swinging the pipe around a vertical axis, andautomatically reversing its movement, said means consisting of avertical shaft, with a gear meshing two loose gears on a horizontalshaft which has a gear in mesh with an annular gear coaxially fixed on avertical portion of said pipe, a ooupling box on the horizontal shaftbetween said loose gears, and means for coupling said box to either ofthe two loose ears. l

GUSTA EDWTN ANDERSSN, Witnesses:

Nuts Lnnnnnne, d. 'Wallonne

